A LOUIS XVI ORMOLU AND WHITE AND GREY MARBLE MANTEL CLOCK, the glazed circular enamelled dial with both Roman and Arabic numerals, signed Briscard APARIS within a panelled plinth flanked by Cupid, his bow at his feet, giving a dove to a melancholic nymph, a laurel sprig and dove on the platform beside her, the stiff-leaf moulded rectangular plinth with central ribbon-tied torch and quiver mount with swagged drapery and claw feet, on a further beaded grey marble plinth, the later movement stamped JLFEMS within a slip and numbered VW6-291, restorations

Details

A LOUIS XVI ORMOLU AND WHITE AND GREY MARBLE MANTEL CLOCK, the glazed circular enamelled dial with both Roman and Arabic numerals, signed Briscard APARIS within a panelled plinth flanked by Cupid, his bow at his feet, giving a dove to a melancholic nymph, a laurel sprig and dove on the platform beside her, the stiff-leaf moulded rectangular plinth with central ribbon-tied torch and quiver mount with swagged drapery and claw feet, on a further beaded grey marble plinth, the later movement stamped JLFEMS within a slip and numbered VW6-291, restorations
10¼in. (26cm.) wide; 14in. (35.5cm.) high

Provenance

The Earl of Shaftesbury, St. Giles's House, Dorset, Sold in these Rooms, 3 July 1980, lot 115

Lot Essay

Gilles-Jean-Baptiste Briscard, maître en 1772

This clock is after the celebrated design by François Vion. No. 13 in the Livre de Desseins, the subject depicts La Douleur, although the flaming torch was replaced with a laurel-sprig in execution. Referred to as Pleureusè in contemporary auction catalogues, Vion charged 450 livres for the finished model. The design and a related clock are illustrated in H. Ottomeyer and P. Proschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich 1978, p.247, figs. 4.6.9 and 4.6.10.

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